Is This Love
by DBZcat16
Summary: After waking up in a strange dimension six months back, Gohan finally decides it's time to go out and learn about this place. And where better to learn these things than school? But what he doesn't count on is meeting a girl named Kiku, who suspects he is from the Dragon Ball Z world. She tries her best not to interfere with their world out of fear of messing it up, but can she?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: As much as I want to, I do not own Dragon Ball Z. I am simply writing a story for non-profit entertainment.

Chapter 1: The New Student

Kiku woke up to the sound of her alarm clock. She moaned as she dragged herself out of bed to get ready for school.

Kiku is a thirteen year old girl, and she prides herself in being the smartest girl in her school. She happens to be very pretty, with long blonde hair and a tall but skinny figure. Yet she could care less about her looks, for she had never cared for standing out in a crowd, unless of course it involved her school work. In that case, she let herself shine.

She quickly changed, no enthusiasm in her blue eyes as she prepared for school. Everyday was the same thing; get up, go to school, then go home. It was hardly November, but the daily cycle bores her already.

Kiku walked out into the kitchen. At the table were her two brothers and her mom.

"Good morning Kiku," her mother called over her shoulder as she prepared her lunch.

Kiku greeted her back before sitting down and eating. It seemed as if today would be another boring day, and her older brothers lived up to her expectations.

"Alfred, give it back," growled Matthew.

Alfred snorted in response as he threw his brother's food into the dog's bowl.

"Alfred!" Matthew yelled in anger as the dog devoured his breakfast.

Alfred laughed to himself, finding pleasure in annoying his brother.

As Kiku's mother scolded her brother, Kiku thought, _Yup. Another boring day._

After giving her cats a kiss goodbye, she went to school. She separated from her brothers to go towards the middle school. She was in eighth grade, her brothers tenth, and she was sick of this school. She wanted to just be in the high school already. She was more than ready.

A smile finally dawned on Kiku's bored face as she caught sight of her friends. There was Jodie, a usually shy and quiet girl in her classes that can actually be loud and obnoxious when she wanted to be while with her friends. Then there was Scarlett, who looked quite similar to Kiku in looks but differed in personality: unlike Kiku, she preferred to make her presence known and wasn't shy when it came to making new friends. Finally, there was Annabeth. Kiku had just met her this year but she seemed nice enough. With no doubt, she was the most popular out of all of them, and she was always dressed to impress.

"Hey guys," Kiku called. She loved hanging out with these three. They were always busting each other's horns over stupid things. And although she often sat out during their conversations and arguments, she often told them how fun it was to watch them quarrel.

Scarlett grinned. "'Bout time you got here!"

"Yea," piped in Annabeth. "We were just discussing how cute Jodie's new puppy is!"

Preferring to stay quiet, Jodie simply took out her iPhone and flashed a picture of a small black lab.

Kiku snorted. "Sure, _cute,_" she said sarcastically, rolling her eyes in the process.

"What do you mean by that?" Jodie finally said, in mock offense.

"Well, what I'm saying is that cats are, by far, the cuter out of the two species."

Kiku had always differed from the group, preferring cats over dogs, and books over company. But it was times like this that made Kiku glad that she hadn't shunned these three out of her life. Then her life would be _extra_ boring.

As the group of friends playfully argued, Kiku fighting in defense of cats everywhere, she felt a sudden sense that she was being watched.

Kiku turned her head around towards where the woods were, but saw nothing. Yet she couldn't shake the feeling that somewhere, something was watching her. She jumped as the bell rang in signal to allow the students inside the building. As she went inside the building to head to first period, she shook it off.

It was currently fourth period and she sat down in her technology class. Her first three classes went by uneventfully, each giving her the same amount of boredom as the rest of her classmates struggled to understand what the teacher was talking about. She had noticed an empty seat in her third period science class that had never been there before, but she just shrugged. It was probably just for a new student in another class, since her teacher hadn't introduced any new student to her own class.

Kiku sat in her class reading a book and shutting out those around her as she waited for the bell to ring and signal the beginning of the class. It was then that she received shivers running down her body, despite her jacket.

She became aware of someone unfamiliar sitting behind her, and stopped herself from turning around to look at the newcomer.

The bell rang and stopped her mental debate on whether or not to turn around.

"Hello everyone," Mr. Nail said in his dull monotone voice.

"Hello, Mr. Nail," the class replied with an equally dull tone.

"Today we have a new student, so please welcome Son Gohan."

As he spoke the last few words, the color drained from Kiku's face. _Son Gohan?_ Kiku asked herself. _But he's just an anime character!_ As she pondered the subject, she suddenly realized that she was just kidding herself. He doesn't exist and never will. _He must have parents who were obsessed with Dragon Ball Z and decided to name their son after their favorite character,_ she assured herself.

The class turned as one to look at the newbie, with the exception of Kiku, who was lost in thought.

The rest of the class Mr. Nail droned on about measuring. Even a good student like Kiku struggled to keep her eyes open.

Forty minutes later the bell rang, and she sighed in relief. _I had almost slipped into the void of complete boredom there,_ she mused.

Kiku headed to algebra, having totally forgotten about Son Gohan.

He stood a few steps behind her as he himself headed to his next class. _Algebra, huh,_ he thought to himself. _Room 112..._

Kiku stepped into her classroom and let out a startled noise at the sight of the boy who stood in front of her teacher's desk. He was tall and had black hair, and he wore loose clothing._ To disguise his ripped muscles, _Kiku thought to herself. She shook her head._ No! What am I thinking? This person is not the Son Gohan from my favorite anime show!_

She practically stumbled into her seat at the front of the room in between two of her friends, Jodie and Scarlett.

As the bell rang, her math teacher jumped up ecstatically, and greeted her class.

"Good morning students!" she said with a smile. Before the class could return the hello, however, she continued, "This here is a new student named Son Gohan."

It was then that the boy turned around, and his black eyes meeting with Kiku's. Their eyes remained locked, as if they were mesmerized, until Mrs. Happy, as Kiku's friends liked to call her, gave him a light push in the direction of his seat.

Their eye contact broke as he walked past her to his seat in the back.

_How is it possible? He looks exactly like he did in the show, but a lot more cute…_ Again she shook her head to clear it of those ridiculous thoughts._ Why am I thinking this way?_ she asked herself while unconsciously doing her work._ I've _never_ felt like this before…_

Little did she know that Son Gohan was watching her from the back, with similar thoughts on his mind.

Finally, the class was released from the grasp of the chirpy teacher. Kiku didn't even realize she was at her locker until Jodie and Scarlett walked up to her.

She jumped at the sound of Scarlett's voice.

"So, Kiku. What's with you and the new student?" she asked mischievously.

"What?" she exclaimed in shock. "Nothing! I've never even seen him before today!"

Unfortunately, Jodie was the best at figuring out if someone's lying.

"You lie," she stated with a smirk.

"What did she lie about?" came the all too familiar voice of Annabeth.

Kiku moaned. Just her luck to have Annabeth come over right now. She's practically the queen of drama, which meant that Kiku's going to have a harder time trying to squirm her way out of this one.

Catching the look of distress that spread across Kiku's face, Scarlett grinned.

"There's something going on between her and the new student. They couldn't stop staring at each other in math, and she lied about not seeing him before."

The grin spread to Annabeth's face, while Kiku realized why Jodie had detected a lie.

She had watched all of the Dragon Ball series, so technically she _has_ seen him before, as an anime character.

_But that doesn't make any sense,_ she thought, frowning. _This Gohan is _not_ from an anime show. It's impossible!_

"Hello? Earth to Kiku!" Scarlett said.

Blinking, she realized that she needed to get more sleep. Her focus was horrible today.

Seeing her come back down to Earth, Annabeth went on, "So, are you two going out or something?"

Kiku's eyes widened in shock at her suggestion, but what else should she expect from the Drama Queen?

"W-what? No! No way!" she spluttered out.

She only earned three cheeky grins.

Arguing proved to be fruitless, so in the end, she gave up and just grumbled, "Let's head to lunch."

Annabeth beamed, having won this battle, while Kiku silently plotted of ways to shut her mouth up for good.

They sat at their lunch table and Kiku pulled out her book, not being in a good mood to talk.

Knowing that this would all blow over tomorrow, the blonde's friends showed no concern that she was ignoring them.

She sighed. She was too forgiving. They were the only friends she's got though, for no one wanted to be friends with the smart girl, who is nice and thoughtful towards everyone, even the popular kids. There was no way she wanted to lose the only friends she's got.

The three of them got up to go buy lunch but Kiku stayed put. For a few minutes she read in peace, until she heard the obnoxious laughter as the boys approached her table. They liked to insult people and raid their table and occasionally steal something.

"So Cat Lady, how are your thirty-seven cats?" the first boy asked. His name was Tom, or something like that. Kiku has never really cared to learn peoples' names, least of all his. He thought himself the most popular boy in school, but Kiku failed to see what all the other girls did.

She continued reading, ignoring their presence. By now she knew to stay quiet, and once they got bored they'd leave.

"What, cat got your tongue?" he asked as his friends laughed.

Still, he remained ignored.

"Ya know, I don't appreciate being ignored," he growled grabbing her book away.

"Hey!" she exclaimed.

The group of boys laughed, while Tom made a fake surprised expression. "The cat _does_ know how to talk!"

She got up, for she was as tall, if not taller, than him.

But as she made to grab it, he tore out several pages. He then stood, and two of his friends stepped in front of him to block the angry girl from their leader.

Frustration was getting the better of Kiku as she tried to get to her book, and for once she wished Annabeth were here. She always knew how to get the boys to go away.

Just as another few pages got ripped out, much to the boys' amusement, another voice spoke up.

"Give it back to her."

Kiku turned around, and to her surprise she saw Gohan.

Yet Tom wasn't going down without a fight.

"Oooo! New boy is standing up for the Cat Lady!" he exclaimed.

She growled.

"Might want to step back. She has claws you know," Tom informed Gohan.

Yet Gohan stepped forward and grabbed the book out of his hand at lightning speed.

Tom hid his surprise. "I let you take that. Don't forget the pages though." He threw the ripped out pages into the air, causing them to go this way and that. "Let's go, boys."

With that, they retreated back to their table.

Kiku was already on the floor, trying to gather the pages. Once she had, she stood up to face Gohan. He had been reading the back of her book.

"Thank you," she murmured quietly.

He looked up and smiled. "No problem."

Kiku took her book back and opened the book up back to the page she had been reading, only to find the page gone.

She let out an aggravated sigh. "Just when I was reaching the good part," she muttered under her breath.

She closed it and began shifting through the dozens of pages in her hands. In the end she gave up and threw both the book and the pages in the trash.

When Gohan gave her a questioning look, she answered, "Not worth going through the trouble of finding and putting the pages back where they belong."

He nodded. Kiku sat back down, now utterly bored. Then she realized that Gohan was still standing there. His face was a bit red and he was looking at the ground. "Y-you wouldn't mind if maybe I sat at your lunch table, would you?" he asked embarrassedly.

She hesitated. Sure, she'd like to get to know the guy more, for this is the first guy to actually talk to her for a reason that didn't involve schoolwork or bullying, yet she knew how her friends would react if they came back to find the two at the same table.

Noticing the struggle to come up with a decision, he looked around. He had been told by a lunch aid to sit at those boys' table, but that option was out now. He couldn't see anywhere else that wasn't taken.

Kiku looked up and made the same observation as him. She sighed. Being mean was not in her nature. Besides, her friends would forget about it tomorrow and he'll make friends and sit at their table instead… right?

Clearing her throat to catch his attention, she gestured to the empty seat in front of her. He smiled gratefully and sat.

There was an awkward silence for a bit, as Kiku was bad at making small talk and Gohan was busy eating the lunch he had brought to school with him.

Soon Kiku heard the sound of her friends laughing and braced herself. They ceased talking when they caught sight of Gohan at their table, but a grin crept onto Annabeth's face. She picked up her stuff and moved it to next to Gohan. Scarlett sat next to Kiku, with Jodie on her other side.

Kiku realized that she probably should have guessed that Annabeth would hit on him, and under her breath she muttered, "Oh man."

She shot Gohan an apologetic look as Annabeth began flirting with him. Gohan seemed startled and turned red as she tried to engage him in conversation. Unfortunately for Annabeth, he wasn't the type to flirt, and he remained quiet.

As the bell rang, Kiku quickly got up and retreated before her friends could begin questioning her why he was at their table.

Luckily, her next class, gym, had only Jodie. She let out a relieved sigh when Jodie arrived and didn't bug her.

Finally, she had English. Easily her best subject, she would often doze during class or draw. She began dozing away when all of a sudden she saw him. Gohan was in her class. Again their eyes locked, but this time Kiku looked away in embarrassment. She had never had a guy stare at her, for she was easily not the most attractive student in the school. Not that she cared.

They were on opposite sides of the classroom, yet because the desks were at an angle, they were easily able to look at each other. For the whole period, they stole glances at each other, for each were receiving a strange vibe from the other.

Finally it was the end of the day, and they both practically fled from the classroom to go to their locker.

Kiku picked up her pace, not wanting to run into her friends. She looked up and found that Gohan was already gone. But that didn't mean that her friends were.

"So," Annabeth said smoothly. Kiku locked her locker and turned to face her. It didn't take a genius to realize that she was a bit pissed off.

"Alright, Annabeth. What did I do this time?" Kiku sighed in defeat. So much for getting away before her friends found her.

Putting up a fake smile, she replied, "I want you to set me up with that cutie, Gohan, so that I can take him out of his shell."

Kiku rolled her eyes. She should've guessed that she wouldn't give up so easily.

Catching that, she added, "And if you don't," pausing for drama before continuing, "I'll spread the rumor around the school that the two of you are dating."

Kiku considerably paled at the threat. It may not seem like a big deal to others, but for her that's the equal of someone threatening to kill a loved one. She was very serious and, not only that, she was concerned for Gohan. Getting a rumor spread about you on your second day of school isn't good.

Kiku sighed in defeat. "Fine," she replied flatly.

Annabeth squealed in delight before running off to catch her bus.

After watching the girl retreat, she herself left the school. As she began her walk home, she couldn't help but stress over today's events. As she turned the corner onto her street, again she received that strange feeling that she was being watched.

Uncomfortable, she picked up her pace and ran up the steps into her house. She called a quick hello to her brothers, who had gotten home an hour before she had, and rushed into her room.

As Kiku closed her door, she let out a sigh of relief. Then she caught sight of the book on her bed.

Cautiously, the book was approached. Kiku quickly inhaled as she realized that it was a new copy of the book she had been reading earlier at lunch.

Carefully, she picked it up and flipped it to the page she had left off on. She smiled as she began reading, happy that something good had finally happened that day.

*Hey, thanks for reading. I'm sorry it's a bit boring right now but I promise that by the third chapter things will get spicy. I'll post tomorrow or the day after that at the latest. Please comment, and thank you!*


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Maybe if I make a wish from the Dragon Balls, I'll own the rights to Dragon Ball Z... But until then, I don't own it.

*Okay, for all you Hetalians out there who may have recognized the names Kiku, Alfred and Matthew, I'm just making a call out. It's my favorite anime after Dragon Ball Z. Japan is my favorite, so I figured he deserved the honor of having his name being the main character's name, even if Kiku is a girl in this. I only added Alfred and Matthew because my friends are obsessed with America and Canada and I figured they'd kill me if they found out I didn't reference them. Alright, that's enough chitter chatter. Let begin: After this: Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Hetalia, I'm just making a reference.* 

Chapter 2: Awkward Friendship

The next day started the same as always; alarm goes off, Kiku gets up, brothers argue over something pointless, and she heads to school.

She waved her mother goodbye, then caught sight of her friends. As always, she walked over to them.

"…and then, I overheard Tom dump her. But Lexi was all, 'whatever' in his face. Then they had an argument over who's more popular while I snickered from across the room," Annabeth exclaimed.

Kiku rolled her eyes. Spreading rumors was a specialty of Annabeth's.

"Morning," she called.

They turned to her and Scarlett replied, "Hey, girl!" Jodie and Annabeth simply smiled, but there was something else behind Annabeth's smile. Smugness.

Annabeth still expected Kiku to set her up with Gohan. She felt a bit embarrassed that she was expected to do this, but also down there was jealousy and… rage? All Annabeth saw in Gohan was his looks. For some reason, Kiku felt as if she saw something different: a boy with a secret, who would rather go unnoticed.

Clearing her head, she meant to tell Annabeth that it won't happen in a million years, when the bell rang.

They entered the building, and she was told, "I expect you to have set us up by lunch."

Containing her bitterness, Kiku headed to history.

History flew by, but orchestra did not. When the bell rang at the end of her orchestra class, Kiku sighed in relief. Her playing had been horrible today, as her mind was somewhere else.

Putting her cello away, she went to talk to Jodie, who was the only one of her friends in this class.

"So, Jodie."

Jodie turned, and answered, "So, Kiku."

"Did you hear about what Annabeth has put me up to?" she asked.

Jodie replied, "Yea. But honestly, I can't see those two working out, and that's if he says yes to going on a date with her."

Kiku was more than a little bit surprised. As long as she's known Jodie (eight freakin' years), she's never heard her make a prediction such as this. Sure, she's rolled her eyes in the past, but she's never voiced it.

After regathering her composure, Kiku asked, "What makes you say that?"

Putting her violin back in it's case, she carefully replied, "Annabeth is expecting too much of him. She can't see past the fact that not everyone is like her. Her mind works in the way that she will get what she wants, no matter the cost."

Kiku looked Jodie over. Was she talking to the right person? It's amazing how much she can understand others.

Slowly, Kiku nodded.

"In other words, don't do as she wants," Jodie stated matter-of-factly.

Sighing, she replied, "I'd love to take your advice, but I can't." Before Jodie could interject, she continued, "Like you said, Annabeth will get what she wants, no matter the cost."

Understanding, the reply Kiku got was, "What did she do?"

"She's threatening to spread a rumor," Kiku replied flatly. Jodie didn't need to know the details.

The bell rang, so they continued their discussion as they headed to science. Luckily, they shared the next class together.

Her face scrunched up in thought, Jodie murmured, "There must be a loophole somewhere…"

Kiku examined Jodie. "You seem like you'd make a good lawyer."

Having broken her train of thought, Jodie looked up at Kiku. "Huh?"

"Well, you are pretty good at figuring out things about people, not to mention that you're the best at figuring out lies."

A smile crept up on Jodie's face. "Yea. I guess I am good."

They entered the science classroom, and the two friends noticed him at the same time.

Sitting at the desk that had been empty the previous day was none other than Son Gohan.

He sat quietly, and when the teacher asked him questions about himself, he answered politely.

Kiku froze, then whispered, "Found any loopholes?"

Jodie shook her head.

Sighing, she decided that she'd talk to him during tech. After all, they are in the same class and none of her friends would be there to pressure her.

The bell rang, and Mrs. Bear began class. She can be fun to be around, but never get on her wrong side. She's been known to give detention to those who don't cooperate and, not only that, she drops five points off of your average for each detention served. But Gohan shouldn't have a problem with that. He's too polite and quiet to cause any sort of problem.

"Alright then, class. I'm sure that by now you all know about Gohan." Mrs. Bear gestured to the shy student. His eyes quickly scanned the class, and when his eyes and Kiku's eyes interlocked, he quickly looked away.

"So today we will we learning about the periodic table. Now, what do we know about the periodic table?" she asked the class.

Both Kiku and Gohan raised their hands.

"Kiku?"

"Elements are presented in order of increasing atomic number, which is typically listed with the chemical symbol in each box," she answered.

"Good. Anything else you would like to add, Gohan?"

He nervously hesitated, then replied, "The periodic table, also known as Mendeleev's table, is a table of the chemical elements existing on Earth. The current table holds 117 elements in a very distinct order for the purpose of showing similarities and differences in chemical properties." He looked as if he wanted to say more, but after realizing that the class's eyes were widened in his direction, he shut up.

The class stared at him. They hardly understood any of what he just said, but they got the gist of it: he knows more than Kiku does.

Kiku stared at him. She doesn't know who the heck Mende-something is, nor did she ever bother counting all of the elements.

Jodie, who happened to be seated nearby Kiku, leaned over and whispered, "It would seem that you have some competition." Yet jealousy eluded Kiku.

The class turned their attention back to their teacher, who was trying to get everyone's attention again.

"Very good, very good. You both had good answers, but what I was really looking for was that it is made up of rows and columns," Mrs. Bear said.

The class was dumbstruck. Even _they_ had known that it was made up of rows and columns!

Kiku's mouth was slightly open, and she could see that so was Gohan's. Their eyes met, but Kiku regained her composure quicker than he did. Leave it to Mrs. Bear to say something like that.

Smiling now, she turned her attention back to her teacher.

The rest of the class went by pretty uneventfully, just the taking of notes.

By the time the bell rang, the class was so overloaded with notes that it was coming out of their ears. Kiku and Gohan were an exception, of course.

After saying goodbye to Jodie, Kiku nervously waited outside the science classroom. She began tapping her foot, but it wasn't in impatience.

"I- I can't do this," she muttered to herself.

As she began walking away, a hand reached out onto her shoulder.

Kiku stopped and her stomach did a double flip. A concerned Gohan stood there.

"O-oh. Hi," she responded nervously as he removed his hand from her shoulder.

For a few seconds there was silence, until he suggested, "Lets walk to class."

Numbly, she nodded. As they neared class, she gulped. It was now or never.

"L-listen," she began. He turned and looked at her, which made her feel even more guilty. "You remember that girl, Annabeth, that was, you know, hitting on you, right?" After receiving a nod, she continued, "Well, she's kind of forcing me to, er, how do I put this…" she trailed off.

"She wants you to set us up, doesn't she?" he asked.

Stunned, and a little bit relieved, she questioned, "How did you know?"

A little bit red, he replied, "I- er, just connected the dots."

Shrugging off the suspicion he was lying she sighed, "You don't have to say yes. Odds are she'll have another boyfriend by the end of the week. Believe me, I didn't want to be the one to tell you this."

"Then why did you?"

The answer didn't come right away. They entered their tech classroom. She sat, hoping to avoid answering, but he wasn't going to give up easily.

Standing in front of her desk, he raised an eyebrow.

Looking in his ebony eyes, she sighed in defeat. "She-er- threatened to spread a rumor."

"And? That's it?" he asked in surprise.

Kiku gave him a glare and half a smile. "You don't know what the rumor is about."

Before he could ask another question, the bell rang and Mr. Nail started class. "Mr. Son, please take your seat."

"Sorry, sir."

"Now today we are beginning to make Co2 Racecars. Using what we learned last class about measurements, we will draw what we want our cars to look like." As he spoke, he distributed a block of wood to everyone, and some graph paper to draw on.

The class was excited. Finally, they'd be able to make something fun!

Everyone began sketching a design for their racecar, each aiming for theirs to be the fastest. Once that was done, they glued their life-size drawing onto the sides of their block of wood. Everyone was enthusiastic about tomorrow's class, when they'd use the machine to carve the car's shape.

As the class stored the blocks in a cabinet, Kiku caught sight of Gohan's. His drawings designed a simple, skinny car. It was very similar to Kiku's drawing. _Great minds think alike,_ she thought to herself.

When the bell rang, she waited for him, for they had the same class next period.

She had no intention of answering to him what the rumor was, but if she didn't set him up with Annabeth soon, he'll know what it is by tomorrow, at the latest.

Gohan approached, and nervously smiled.

They began walking to class, and Gohan asked, "So, this Annabeth girl wants me to go out with her and you want me to because a rumor will be spread if I don't, correct?" He got a stiff nod in response. "I think we both know what my answer is," he murmured.

Kiku inwardly sighed. She had known that the answer would be no, and she had been hoping to avoid drastic measures.

"I'm sorry Gohan," she began saying. She was given a quizzical look. "You have to go out with her." Before he could get a complaint in, she went on. "The rumor is about you, Gohan."

Surprise lit up in his eyes. "Me?"

Sourly, she answered, "Is there another Gohan here?"

Catching the look of unease in his eyes, she meant to say something, when she was bumped into by a group of passing boys. One of them hooked their foot behind her ankle as he rushed by, and Kiku and her binders seemed to fall backwards in slow-mo. That is, until Gohan caught her and her several binders.

"Thank you." Kiku straightened herself out and looked at Gohan. He mumbled that it was nothing before rushing into their algebra room. _Such a strange boy,_ she thought to herself.

As she took her seat, Jodie, to her right, leaned over and asked, "Well? Did you ask him? What did he say?"

Deliberately taking her time, Kiku slowly responded, "Yes, I asked him." Jodie made the hand motion that meant, 'Go on,' so she did. "He said what's to be expected. No."

Jodie's brown eyes softened in sympathy. "Does he know about the rumor?"

"Sort of. He knows its about him, and that it will be spread if no was his final answer, but he doesn't know that its not only about him."

"Huh. I have a feeling he'll regret his decision soon enough."

Little did they know, Gohan had listened to every word the two exchanged.

Having built her courage up in algebra, Kiku approached the redhead. "Annabeth," she calmly said. The girl turned around with a smile.

"I suppose I have a date tonight with Mr. Shyandhandsome." She said this with a giggle, but that giggle died in her throat when Kiku told her no. "What do you mean "no"?"

"I mean, that he isn't interested, nor does he care about that rumor of yours."

Had this been a cartoon, Kiku was sure that steam would've been coming from her ears. Not once in her entire life had a boy turned down a chance to go on a date with her.

The angered redhead stormed off. But Kiku knew that this was only the beginning.

"Kiku!" Turning, the blonde caught sight of Jodie and Scarlett.

Scarlett spoke up. "You do realize that you have just sealed your fate?"

"Ha, ha, ha," Kiku sarcastically replied.

Jodie added, "Don't worry. We'll talk to Annabeth. Just wait a few minutes before coming to lunch to allow us some time to sort stuff out."

In relief, Kiku nodded. She could always count on Jodie to get her out of trouble.

The two left the blonde with her feeling of impending doom.

Turning to her locker, she realized that she wasn't alone. Gohan stood near her locker, eyeing her nervously. She sighed. At the very least, she owed it to him to tell him what the rumor is about.

Without moving from her spot from across the hall, she told him, "We're dating."

Gohan's ebony eyes filled with confusion.

"The rumor that will be spread is that we are dating," she simply said.

Shock took the place of his confusion.

"Oh come on," she said exasperatedly. "Even Annabeth noticed how similar we are in terms of personality: smart, usually quiet, kind… Don't tell me that you, the smartest person in this school, haven't noticed it." As she spoke, she didn't even flinch, inwardly or outwardly, at calling him smarter than her. It was a fact that, somehow, she wasn't jealous of.

"Huh," was all he said.

Walking across the hallway towards him, she stopped as she approached to open her locker. She deposited her binders from this morning's classes and took out her afternoon binders. Once she was done, she turned to the ever thoughtful Gohan. Snapping her fingers to get his attention, she suggested they head to lunch.

The silence was awkward, so Gohan tried to strike up conversation. "So, er… What's your favorite subject?"

"Math." She would've left it at that, but not wanting to be rude, she added, "Yours?"

He tilted his head up a bit, as if thinking, before replying, "History."

"Really? That's probably my least favorite," she commented.

Gohan shrugged.

There was silence for the remainder of the short walk, but the small talk had relaxed Kiku.

When the two walked into the cafeteria, a few heads turned in their direction. A few people began whispering. Kiku sighed. It had begun.

Shuffling quietly to her seat, redness tinting her cheeks, Jodie turned and mouthed, "I'm sorry. I tried."

Sitting, she ignored the smirks Annabeth shot at her. But as she was about to take out her book to read, Gohan sat across from her.

Still red, Kiku refused to look up at him, despite the fact that he was equally red. "Sorry. The people who had originally offered to let me sit with them had told me they changed their minds," he apologized to the girls.

"It's okay," Scarlett said.

The group sat in awkward silence, or at least that's what it was like for Scarlett and Jodie. Kiku was used to silence by now, and honestly, she preferred it. As for Annabeth, she sat with her eyes glued to Kiku, trying to make her feel uncomfortable. And Gohan silently ate his rather large lunch.

"May all those who are buying lunch line up now," came the nasally voice of the elderly lunch aid over the loud speakers.

Jodie and Scarlett jumped up out of the tension and into the crowd of students. Annabeth slowly followed.

Sighing as she looked up from the book she had been pretending to read, Kiku apologized to Gohan. "I'm sorry that you are caught in the crossfire. Annabeth believes that if she can't have you then no one can, and seeing as I'm known for turning down every guy who asks me out, she found me as the perfect target." Kiku frowned. "Although I can't figure out why exactly she wanted to start a rumor involving me. I've never done anything to her as far as I can remember."

Before he could stop himself, Gohan blurted out, "She's jealous." He felt the blue eyes of the confused blonde sitting across from him bore into him.

"Annabeth? Jealous? Of _me_?" She shook her head in disbelief. "I'm sorry, Gohan. I don't know what you've been smoking, but I think you're seeing things."

Again, he couldn't stop himself. "She's jealous that you are leagues more pretty than her."

For the second time, Kiku looked at him in confusion. _Is he… complimenting me?_ "Gohan," she whispered. "That's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me."

Gohan blushed, and she laughed. As she did so, she had spied an uneaten cookie in front of him. She quickly snatched it up and popped it into her mouth. By the time he had gathered his surroundings again, and realized that his cookie was no longer in it's previous place, the cookie was lost forever.

A smile played on Kiku's lips as he looked up at her. Slowly a nervous smile gathered on his own.

"Oh, quit being so tense!" she scolded. Relax!"

Gohan did so, and even his face seemed more loosened. His features weren't scrunched up in worry and it brought out the happy glow of his eyes.

Kiku let out a light laugh. "Huge difference."

The brilliant white of Gohan's teeth showed as he genuinely smiled. "You took my cookie," he stated.

"Yup. It's a dead soldier now," she responded while patting her stomach.

Gohan snorted then said, "Yea, it and what army?"

It was supposed to be a rhetorical question, but she responded with, "This one." She grabbed the edge of a cookie that had peeked out from under a plastic bag, and went to plop it into her mouth until a hand grabbed her own and snatched the cookie back.

"Sorry," Gohan lied, his eyes flashing in happiness. "But this cookie will not go down the same way as the other." With that, the cookie went into his own mouth.

As the two quieted down and reddened, realizing that that must've seemed odd to passerby, Gohan asked, "Why don't you eat lunch?" Kiku looked up but avoided his eyes. She'd never admit it, but ever since sixth grade, she'd avoided eating lunch. Never did she think herself as anorexic, but then again, she'd never really cared enough. She didn't care what other people called her, as long as it didn't mess with her reputation, or her friends, for that matter.

"I- I just don't," she stammered.

By now she should've realized that he wasn't one to drop subjects without a satisfactory answer. "Why not?"

"Because I don't," she snapped. Why should she have to answer him? It's not like he cares.

"Then why did you eat my cookie?" he questioned. She shrugged. Truth is, she doesn't know. Something came over her, something she'd never experienced before.

Kiku was sure he would've questioned more, but Jodie and Scarlett returned at that moment. In relief, Kiku greeted, "Hey guys."

They responded in kind. They were both apologizing for not being able to stop Annabeth's rumor from spreading like wildfire. Kiku shrugged. It didn't seem to matter all that much to her anymore.

Not long after Annabeth sat down and resumed staring at Kiku. She knew that she wanted her to crack and try to stop the rumor, to make it worse, but Kiku refused to give her that satisfaction. Instead, she turned to Gohan and began talking to him. Smirking inwardly, she could sense the surprise of all three of her friends.

At long last, the bell rang and the group dispersed to their separate classes. As Jodie and Kiku walked together, she could practically feel her friend's curiosity begging to be sated. "Go ahead and ask," Kiku amusedly asked.

"Are you mad at us? Why did the two of you seem so relaxed when we got out? Since when did the two of you talk like old-time friends?" Jodie asked at once.

"No, I told him to so he did, and he's really nice once you get past the shyness thing," Kiku responded.

All gym class, during line soccer, Jodie whispered questions and Kiku answered as many of them as she dared, although a few 'I don't knows' were inevitable.

Finally, was English. All period she doodled cookies on a piece of loose-leaf. Ever since that one at lunch, she had been craving them. While adding a glass of milk to it, she was asked, "Kiku, what's wrong with the sentence I had just re-"

"It's a comma splice," she answered without looking up.

"Excellent," the teacher said, although he wasn't pleased. He was always trying to catch her off guard and make her get a question wrong, so as to force her to pay attention. Clearly, it hasn't worked so far.

Having been left alone for the remainder of class, Kiku decided that the first thing she was going to do when she got home was eat some cookies.

This time when the bell rang, Gohan waited for her. She smiled at him and they visited their lockers together. First it was to Kiku's, then to Gohan's. They talked about, at Kiku's request, cookies. He revealed that he picked some up from a store everyday before school. As they spoke, her eyes caught with a rather disgruntled Annabeth's and she smirked. Clearly her plan had backfired.

They exited the school and Kiku began walking on her usual path home. She totally forgot to ask him if he was even heading in the right direction of his house as they walked and talked.

By the time she rounded the corner of her street, they were talking about the incident the day before with Tim.

"Tom," he corrected.

"Whatever," she muttered.

"So why did he keep calling you Cat Lady?" he probed.

A bit uncomfortable she shifted her handbag to her other arm. If he noticed her unease, he didn't comment. "It's a well known fact that I like cats better than dogs," she began. "And that I have two of them that I'd do anything for." She hesitated before continuing. "Then one day Sam-"

"-Tom-"

"decided it'd be funny if he gave me a nickname so people don't have to remember my real name."

"That's not too bad," Gohan commented. He received a glare.

"And I don't suppose that you've never received an animal related nickname?" Kiku didn't expect an answer, although she already knew what the answer was: Yes. He'd been labeled a monkey by Frieza- wait! That'd be suggesting that he is indeed THE Son Gohan.

As expected he didn't reply. No nod and no shake of the head.

The two approached her house, and sitting behind the front window was none other than one of her beloved cats.

When Gohan saw the smile on Kiku's face, he realized that she wasn't joking. He had no doubt that those cats were very loved and lucky.

"Well, thanks for walking me home." She walked up the steps to her house and waved goodbye as she unlocked the door.

Strangely enough, she knew that Gohan would return home safely. Humming, she pet her cat and looked outside to look at him one last time today. But he was gone; no where to be seen.

*Okay, next chapter things get exciting. I just finished typing it before, but I think I'll be annoying and wait till tomorrow to post it. Please comment; I can't tell you how many comments I DIDN"T get. Thank you!*


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don not own Dragon Ball Z... or do I?

Chapter 3: Unexpected Savior

For the first time since she's been going to school, Kiku jumped out of bed, eager to get to school. She was glad to have met someone similar to her, and she had the feeling that he has similar thoughts.

She threw on something that shows off her curves, but wasn't too fancy. Never would she wear a dress or a skirt though.

Practically skipping out into the kitchen, she greeted her family, who shot her surprised looks. "Good morning," she chirped enthusiastically.

"Er… good morning?" Matthew responded.

Kiku woofed down her breakfast and told her brothers to hurry up. The two shot each other confused glances.

"You seem happy, dear," her mother said.

"What gave it away?" Kiku tried to say this sarcastically, but she was in too good a mood.

As she neared her school she, as usual, caught sight of her three fri- sorry. _Two_ friends and_ one_ acquaintance.

"Hey Kiku," Scarlett called with a yawn. Kiku waved back at them while her eyes scanned the students for Gohan. Nope. Oh well.

"So Jodie, how's that dog of yours?" She ignored the look Annabeth was giving her.

"He's good, mostly," Jodie replied, clearly relieved that she was trying to ease the tension. "Besides the fact that he digs holes, he's good."

Kiku snorted. Dogs. Stupid, mindless creatures. As she opened her mouth to tell her so, the annoying voice of whatshisface decided to interrupt.

"Hey, Annabeth." He appeared behind her and she smiled.

"Hey Tom." Kiku rolled her eyes. She deserves a reward. Had she not called it that Annabeth would have a new boyfriend by the end of the week?

"So Cat Lady," he asked with a smirk. "Where's that boyfriend of yours?"

She stopped herself from growling at them. She would not give them the satisfaction of knowing that they got to her. Instead, she coolly replied, "I don't know. Your ugly face probably scared him off." Satisfaction welled up inside of her as Tom growled.

"Watch your tongue, cat," he spat.

But Kiku just rolled her eyes. "Sooo original." Tom stormed off as the bell rang, Annabeth in close pursuit. "I still want to know why Annabeth hates me." She turned to her friends.

Scarlett shrugged, but Jodie answered, "She doesn't hate you." After earning herself a skeptical eyebrow, she went on, "She simply fights for herself, and no one else. She doesn't care if she screws someone else's life up as long as she's fine. Then when Gohan turned her offer down, she destroyed the evidence that she was ever rejected."

"Huh," Kiku mumbled as she connected the dots. "So the rumor was meant to cover it up because apparently, according to the rumor, he already had a girlfriend." As the three entered the building she told them, "I need to at least give her some credit. She may not be an honor student, but she still thinks ahead."

As usual, history, orchestra and science flew by, and the two met up after third period to walk to fourth.

"Hey, _boyfriend_," she teased.

"Hi,_ girlfriend_," he responded.

The two had decided to make a joke out of the entire rumor, and they didn't care what others may think of them. Okay, that's a lie, but they are trying their best to not make the rumor worse.

As the two walked to tech, they exchanged the news of the day.

"So I ordered a few extra cookies," he commented.

Kiku smiled. "How sweet!"

Gohan gave her a blank look before realizing. "Oh! You thought they were for you! Nah. I was just in the mood for more cookies than usual today."

With a snort, she went to playfully punch him on the shoulder. But even a light hit like the one she gave him hurt her hand. "Ouch! What the heck are you made of?" she asked as she nursed her hand. Gohan turned red, but didn't answer the question.

"Sorry," he apologized.

Tech began, and the two worked on their projects close by. But as Kiku was cutting her block of wood, the saw hit her finger and created a cut. Before she could even make a sound, Gohan had turned the machine off and was examining her wound. "You may need stitches," he informed her as the teacher rushed over.

Kiku paled. "Uh, n-no I don't," she stuttered.

Mr. Nail took a look at the bleeding cut. "Go to the nurse," he finally said.

She nodded and bolted out of the classroom. No more talk about stitches and needles.

As Kiku neared the nurse's office, she decided she'd lie and say that she just needed a bandage. Hiding her injured hand, she said hello to the nurse. The nurse nodded consent for her to grab herself a bandage, as long as the wound was cleaned first.

Shakily, she inserted her finger under cold water. Trying her best to ignore the pain, she readied a bandage with her clumsy left hand. Shooting the busy nurse a look to make sure she didn't see her finger, she wrapped it up.

"Thank you," Kiku called in relief. "That was a close one," she muttered to herself.

Reentering the tech class, she saw that everything was cleaned up in time for the bell. Gohan raised an eyebrow when he saw her. As the bell rang, she grabbed her stuff only to wince as her finger had weight applied to it.

"You need stitches," he whispered softly.

"No," she growled. He shrugged, but helped her with her stuff anyway.

They walked to math together and she realized that she was going to have a problem as Gohan went to the back of the room to take a seat. Throughout the class, she winced as she tried to write her answers. When the period ended forty minutes later, she let out a relieved sigh.

"Perhaps now you've learned your lesson," Gohan teased her.

"Yea," she moaned. "Don't be a rightie. Lefties are way better."

He chuckled and grabbed his lunch out of his locker. _It's amazing,_ she thought to herself as they walked to the cafeteria. _We were both really quiet then, all of a sudden, we meet each other and now we are so… _open_._

As usual, they sat across from each other. All lunch period they talked, and Kiku stole a cookie from him when his history teacher came to talk to him about catching up with the rest of the students.

Gohan sat back down with a smile on his face. "Wat hapen?" Kiku asked through her mouth full of cookie.

"Nothing," he said with a shrug. "I just needed help with catching up in history and he wanted to talk to me about when he could help me." When she nodded, he added, "Just so you know, we set it up for after school today so you'll have to walk home alone today."

Narrowing her eyes, Kiku joked, "You're making it sound like we've been walking home together for the past month."

"Doesn't mean I can't get a hobby," he said with another shrug.

So for the remainder of the lunch period the two chatted.

The two separated for seventh but met up again for English. Luckily for Kiku, all they were doing today was reading. Finally, the bell rang, waking Kiku up. She had finished reading twenty minutes before the others and took that time to doze.

"Enjoy your nap?" he asked as she approached.

"Yes actually," she lied. Truth was, she was just daydreaming, not that he needed to know that.

They grabbed what they needed from their lockers before Gohan smiled and told her, "Well I'm off to the library."

"See you tomorrow," she replied, also with a smile.

Gohan headed in the direction of the library, although his gut kept telling him to "forget" and walk with Kiku instead. But he shook that off. He'd see her tomorrow and walk with her then.

Kiku, however, was well on her way home. She was humming a tune and nearing the corner to her street when she froze. Something inside her was telling her to run, and fast. Slowly, she turned around. She caught sight of a green truck slowly making it's way down the street. The problem was, that truck had already passed her a couple minutes back.

Trusting her instincts, she stayed close to the right side of the sidewalk, all the while keeping an uneasy eye on the truck. By now her heart was racing faster than she thought possible, and trusting her women's intuition, she began running, quickly turning the corner to her street. But she didn't get far.

A man who had been waiting in a bush near the sidewalk jumped out and grabbed her. Kiku let out a scream of terror that was cut short when his hand went over her mouth. The binder she had been carrying dropped as she used her hands to try to pull him off of her. Struggling with all her might, she watched in terror as the green truck pulled over and two more men jumped out. One, to her horror, had a machete.

The man had a nasty, wicked smile, and he roughly grabbed her. She was thrown into the back and the three men climbed in as the truck raced off. Tears were flying down her face as she tried to get out of the grip of her kidnappers who, at that time, found her phone in her back pocket and threw it out the window.

Finally, the man's disgusting hand was taken off of her mouth to be replaced with a cloth that was ungracefully stuffed in her mouth. It was shortly followed by some rope tying up her hands and feet.

"So during the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln wasn't fighting to end slavery, he was fighting to preserve the Union," Mr. T said.

Gohan scribbled down more notes. For the last fifteen minutes he had been listening and taking notes as his teacher spoke. But throughout those fifteen minutes, his anxiety about Kiku grew. Finally, not being able to stand it, he searched for her ki.

The two may not have known each other long, but he already had the feeling of her ki memorized, so it should have been easy for him to find her. But he couldn't. Biting his lip, he expanded his search. Still no sign.

"Mr. Son?" Gohan snapped his attention back to his teacher. "Mr. Son, is there a problem? You look worried."

"Er…" he hesitated. It may just be nothing. She may just have gone out or something. As much as he tried to convince himself, he couldn't. He sighed. "Yes."

"Would you like to talk about it?" Mr. T asked concernedly.

"I, er, have a doctor's appointment that I'm blowing off for this," he thought up quickly. Wasn't the best lie to be thought up of on short notice, but it was good enough to convince his teacher.

Surprised, Mr. T exclaimed, "You should go then. Call your parent or guardian and tell them to pick you up." When Gohan didn't move, Mr. T assured him, "Don't worry. We'll pick this up tomorrow, promise." The friendly teacher gave him a pat on the back.

Gohan quickly grabbed his stuff and threw it in his bag. Trying his best to run quickly but not too quickly that it made him appear supernatural, his desperate search for her ki continued.

_Where is she? Where is she? Where is she?_ He kept asking himself.

He rushed along the path that he had taken the previous day, the one that led to Kiku's house. As he cleared the corner, he froze. There were clear signs of a struggle: Grass was smooched where several people must have walked. There was also tire tracks next to the crime scene.

There was a lone binder on the ground, the one she had left the school carrying. Not only that, not too far away, was a smashed and cracked phone he presumed had been hers.

Gohan was struggling to keep himself calm. _How dare they take her,_ he growled to himself. But a voice that sounded an awful lot like Piccolo's entered his head.

_"Gohan! Calm down! You can't let those earthlings see you transform!"_

Surprisingly, Gohan listened to the voice, although he shut it out of his head.

Knowing that this is as calm as he'll get, he took a whiff of the air. The light scent of Kiku entered his nose, but it wasn't alone. There were three other scents, each more nasty smelling than the last.

He began following their scent, that along with the scent of burned rubber, in hope of finding Kiku.

It had felt like days ago that she was thrown into this truck, when in truth she had only been there for about an hour. Currently, she was blindfolded, gagged and tied up, so overall this day took the number one slot of 'Worst Days Ever,' and it wasn't even over yet.

Finally, the car came to a complete stop. She wasn't sure if she wanted it to though. Roughly, she was grabbed and pulled from the car and thrown into a cold room.

She really wished that her hands weren't duct taped to her thighs (they had run out of rope).

Unfortunately, she didn't have much time to think of a way to escape when someone walked in. Something cold touched her skin and tore through the rope and duct tape. The moment her hands were free, the blindfold joined the rope and duct tape on the floor.

Scrambling to her feet, Kiku caught sight of the person who freed her: the man with the machete.

"Now, that's much better, isn't it," he said as he eyed her body.

Kiku growled.

"Heh, heh, caught us a tough one, now haven't we," he softly said as he sheathed his machete in a side pouch.

He stepped forward and she took a step back. This continued until she was cornered in the small dark room. But as her eyes adjusted, she caught sight of what the only piece of furniture in the room was: a bed.

Kiku gasped in terror as he closed the space between them. As the disgusting man began talking, she turned her head to the side to avoid having to breathe in his nasty breath.

"Now, be a sweet young lady and obey my ord-" he was cut short as something cold touched his neck.

Kiku, who had had her head turned, caught sight of his sheathed machete and silently grabbed it and pointed it at his neck. Had she been anyone else, she would've killed the man. But that was not in her nature.

"Step," she hissed, "away." When the man hesitated Kiku yelled, "Now!" Surprisingly, he obeyed. Still shaking in terror, she began circling around him, the point of the machete pointing at her kidnapper all the while, trying to reach the door.

When she finally reached it, she cursed; it was locked.

When Kiku turned back around to look at him, her heart dropped when her eyes made out a shape in the dark that looked an awful lot like a gun.

"Drop the weapon." Kiku just stared at him, trying to think a way out of this one. She saw only one way.

"N-no," she staggered out. _Dang!_ she told herself._ If this is going to work, I need to appear confident._ "No," she repeated, this time firmer.

Had she been able to see better in the dark, she would've seen an eyebrow raise.

"Perhaps I did not make myself clear. Drop my machete and get away from the damn door, or else I'll shoot you." He grinned triumphantly, that is, until she said no again. "What, do you think this is a game? I will shoot you if I have to," he snarled at her.

_It's now or never,_ she thought. "Then shoot," she said softly, but confidently.

Now the man was really pissed. "Have you never seen a gun? They are designed to kill, you idiot, and I'm not afraid to add you to the list of people who were shot and killed from a gun!"

A bit irritated that she has had to hold her confident composure for this long, she hissed back, "Then do it. I'm not afraid, nor will you get in my pants!"

He sneered. "Trying to go out the cowards way, are you?" When he got no answer, he yelled again. "I did not go through the effort of kidnapping you just to shoot you!"

Having had enough, Kiku sighed. She couldn't appear strong anymore; her fear was too great. Instead she put the machete to her left wrist. Desperately, she had been trying to avoid this. She had a feeling it would be long and drawn out, whereas, on the other hand, a bullet could kill instantly.

By now both of them had adjusted to the light change. The man widened his eyes when he realized what she was going to do. "You wouldn't," he nervously sneered. "You don't have the courage." In truth, his taunts was giving her the courage to do it.

Nervously Kiku stated, "This may be the coward's way out, but I'd rather die than become a play toy and be violated." She spat the last word and closed her eyes as the cold touch of the machete met skin and blood.

Unsure of what to do, the man fired a bullet.

Kiku flinched at the sound of the gun going off and froze. She expected pain to suddenly flare up any second now where she got hit, but the only pain she could feel was the pain from her wrist and her finger.

Slowly, she opened her eyes. To her surprise, there was someone standing in front of her. He had blonde hair…

The man got over his moment of shock and let out a yell as he fired several more rounds at the newcomer.

Kiku flinched at the sound of each bullet being fired. For a second, she feared the worst. Then the caught bullets fell to the ground from his hand. Except one. He took the remaining bullet, the bullet that had been fired at Kiku, and flicked it back to the man. It hit him straight in the neck, and he dropped down, dead.

It took a moment for Kiku to realize what happened. She dropped the machete and ran to the blonde.

"Gohan," she sobbed.

"Er… Hi?" the blonde said. Kiku froze. That wasn't Gohan's voice. This blonde was wearing a black shirt and black pants, with a purple jacket and a sword on his back.

"Y-you're not Gohan," she whispered as she removed her arms from around her savior's body. The blonde kept his back to her and informed her, "The police are on their way. So stay in here with the door locked until they come." He began walking to the hole in the wall that he must've created to get in. As he was about to jump out, he froze and quickly added, "Oh, and if you can restrain from mentioning me, that would be great." Then he jumped out into the daylight and left her alone with a corpse.

*Alright, what do you think? Finally something good! And I'm sorry for those of you who had wanted something to happen to her. Not my style. Anyway, please comment and I'll have this updated tomorrow. Bye!*


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Dragon Ball Z is owned by someone who isn't me ;(

*Sorry I haven't updated. I've had a lot of homework.*

Chapter 4: Alone

Five days ago. That was when she had been kidnapped. Kiku shuddered as she remembered that day…

_Blinding lights… they were everywhere as she was escorted out of the building. She remembers turning, and taking in the rundown building that had served as her kidnappers' hideout._

A police officer under the name of Forest was helping her into an ambulance. "It's going to be alright," she recalled him saying. "You're safe now."

Things were blurred a bit during the ride to the hospital, as she had lost a lot of blood from her self-inflicted wound while waiting for the promised cops to show up.

She couldn't stop thinking about it… The corpse had terrified her. It had been surrounded by blood, and that look on his face… she had shuddered thinking about it.

The doctors at the hospital were nice. They had cleaned her up and treated her wounds. When she woke up the next day in the hospital though, that's when the cops came and asked her what exactly happened.

At the sight of the many officers in her hospital room, her heart began accelerating as an anxiety attack approached. But Officer Forest was real nice, and helped her through it.

They were given the information on what she had been doing and feeling at the time of her kidnapping, and all of the information was easy to give until she reached the part where she slit her wrist.

Hesitating. She remembered hesitating, before she told them a lie. They were told that once her wrist had been slit, a weird sound and explosion took place, at which time she was on the ground with her eyes closed and her hands over her ears. They were also told that despite her hands shielding her ears, the sound of gunfire rang loud and clear. When she had opened her eyes, she found the man dead on the floor.

Somehow, it worked. The police officers believed her lie, and the golden haired boy went unmentioned.

But the days after, Kiku realized, gave her a deep depression.

Each morning, she'd wake up and hope that today he'd visit… But he never did. The only guests she got were family coming to visit her, and Officer Forest, who was kind enough to come everyday to make sure she was alright. That, and she had a nagging suspicion he didn't believe her story, and that he hoped she'd slip up and reveal something else about the case.

Yet Kiku also looked at the bright side of things. For one, the gang that had been prime suspects of several kidnaps, _violations_ (for she felt uncomfortable thinking about the proper term) and homicides of several young girls happened to be the very gang that had kidnapped her. Now they are behind bars and facing several years in jail.

Despite this, unhappiness had settled into her heart as she readied to face a day at school. Her family had tried to convince the police and news people not to release who the victim was, for Kiku's sake, but to no avail.

By now, Kiku suspected that everyone in her school had found out, and people were sure to stare… but since when did she care? Never. That was the problem. Her parents (yes she has a father, her parents are just divorced) fear that she is shutting out the rest of the world, not caring about others. Truth is, they are only partially right.

Yes, Kiku admitted to herself that she has shut down her feelings toward how people think of her, but only because she didn't want to care about the negative things many people have the nerve to say. But she does care about others. In fact, she's often overly empathetic with people. She gets a sense on how they are feeling, then tries to keep it from getting worse or something. Even if it means lying or being _pushed around_, or as she likes to call it, being nice. It's actually herself she doesn't care about.

Like she had told Gohan, she would sacrifice her life for her loved ones, including her cats. Her self-esteem may have been eroded down throughout the years, but she has enough respect for herself to care what happens to herself.

Things are frustrating in Kiku's head at the moment, and a day at school will only make it worse. But one thing she did look forward to was seeing Gohan.

Gohan…

*Alright, short and sweet... (By my standards anyway). Btw, Gohan's friends get introduced the chapter after the next, so bear with me (even though I suck at writing stories)!


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Dragon Ball Z is owned by Akira Toriyama who, unfortunately, is not me.

*No excuses except that I'm lazy as Yamcha when it coming to writing (training). The gang will be introduced next chapter.*

Chapter 5: Why?

It was odd. Sitting and eating her breakfast without her brothers arguing over something senseless. Clearly, her parents had told them to cut her some slack after her… experience.

Kiku returned the favor, and remained silent. As they went into their mother's car to be dropped off for school, her mother cleared her throat.

"Listen Kiku," she began. "I want you to take things slowly today, and don't let what those kids say get to you. You also have no obligation to answer to them what happened." At this point, this speech was annoying. From the moment Kiku returned from the hospital on Friday, this speech was repeated whenever her mother got a chance.

"I know," she responded again.

But as the car neared the school, Kiku began nervously tapping her foot. When the car came to a halt, she hesitated. It was only by telling herself that she'd see Gohan today that she was able to get out of the car.

The blonde kept her eyes down and her hair out from its usual place behind her ears, as to block the people staring at her from view. Unconsciously, Kiku followed her usual path to meet up with her friends.

Scarlett and Jodie stood waiting, and Annabeth was no where to be seen.

The two looked up and saw her approach. "Hey, Kiku," Scarlett nervously greeted.

But unlike Scarlett, Jodie welcomed her friend with confidence. "Hi, Kiku,"

Adverting her eyes from the ground, Kiku looked at her two longtime friends. The two couldn't have been more different from each other, but Kiku knew that that was why the two were best friends.

"Hi guys," she quietly greeted.

Clearly not knowing what to do, Scarlett fiddled with her fingers. But Jodie had other plans. "I gathered up your homework for you. You didn't miss anything exciting. All you missed was dogs overpowering the cats and beginning their rule on the world," she joked.

Glad that Jodie wasn't questioning her like she had expected her to, Kiku smiled and replied, "Really? They think that the cats would give up so easily? Maybe they're so dumb they forgot that cats have nine li-" As she was speaking, her guidance counselor had approached.

"Excuse me, Kiku, may we speak?"

The smile that had been slowly forming faded away. Already, she knew what she wanted to talk about. In response, she nodded, and she left her friends staring at her as she left.

Following the lady into the school, she was led to her office. It looked as if a unicorn had died in there: rainbows were everywhere, as well as stuffed animals and bright colors. Kiku was told to sit in a beanbag chair, so she did.

As the short lady sat in her seat, she told her, "I had heard what had happened to you, and I assure you that if you want to talk about it, I'll be right here." The lady's brown eyes stared into Kiku's blue ones.

She sighed. These people don't understand the value of time. These experiences aren't going to go away by talking about them. It happened, and nothing can change that. But with people nagging about it and asking questions, its hard to let the past be the past.

But she bit her tongue and instead replied, "Thank you, but I don't need to talk." Kiku tried to stand to leave, but the lady was persistent.

"Kids all seem to think that. But you know what, you do. You need to talk. Bottling it up inside won't do anything to help. So take this moment to relax and talk."

The lady was given a glare. "What makes you say I'm bottling it up inside me?"

The lady was surprised. "I never said that! How silly of you to think that."

Rolling her eyes, Kiku reached for the door handle and opened the door. She turned and murmured, "Thank you for your concern. I'll keep your offer in mind in case I need it." Every word that came out of her mouth were lies.

The bell rang, and Kiku rushed to class, leaving a disgruntled guidance councilor behind.

"So Reconstruction was meant to-" Mr. T was saying.

"-Sorry I'm late, Mr. T." Kiku rushed in. The class stared, but Mr. T gave her one glance before telling her to take her seat. He continued his lesson as if his class had not been interrupted.

Kiku silently slid into her seat and began catching up on work from Thursday and Friday. Ignoring the curious glares students cast in her direction, her mind drifted. She prayed that this class and the next would go by quickly. Surprisingly, her prayer was answered.

It was third. Hopeful, she walked through the classroom door and looked in the direction of Gohan's desk. Her heart stopped when she saw it was gone. Quickly, she desperately turned to Mrs. Bear. "Excuse me, where's Gohan's desk?"

Mrs. Bear gave her a surprised look, and answered, "Didn't you know? He moved away."

_No. She's lying…_ She nodded and walked to her desk. _Why would he leave? He just moved here._ As she began working on her lab, she worked alone. But her thoughts always kept her occupied. _He was the only person who's ever understood me, and now he's gone._

Jodie approached. "Listen, Kiku," she soothingly said. "I understand that a lot has happened to you, but you have to think of now. Right now, you need to do your work and work yourself up to the top. Soon enough you'll achieve your dream of becoming a vet, and these times you'll look back upon and wonder how you've gotten from there to here." Kiku looked at her. Jodie was shocked to see a sadness tainting her once clear eyes. "May I work with you?" she quietly asked.

Kiku merely gave a nod. Together they worked, although Jodie worked double as she tried to help her friend out of a ditch. At the end of the period, Jodie had gotten no where, and she was nervous to leave her alone in a class for an entire period. But there was nothing she could do about it.

Tech was a short walk, for Kiku had picked up her pace to get away with from her friend. Right now, she wanted silence.

Her stuff was ungracefully tossed in a seat in the back of the room as she went to grab her project. To her disappointment, there was dried blood staining it. It was tossed away as she caught sight of a similar project; Gohan's.

His name was erased, and hers took his place. Mr. Nail helped her to quickly catch up with the class, who were currently painting their dragsters.

Finally, as she was left alone to sand, her thoughts drifted yet again. But it became frustratingly clear to her that although she was smart, this was one problem she'll probably never get an answer to.

An irritated sigh escaped her lips when someone in her class approached her. Before she could even open her mouth, though, Kiku growled, "Turn around and walk away. You will get no information from me." The girl seemed to hesitate before obeying.

This wasn't the first time and it most certainly wasn't the last, she was sure of it. After tech, came algebra. She wished that someone had dropped off her work while she was at home. It would've been so much easier to do it then. That thought had crossed her mind as she set out to catch up on two days of lost work.

As she wrote, her finger began getting irritated, and suddenly she was grateful that she had decided to cut her left wrist instead of her right.

At one point, even holding the pencil was difficult. In the end, Kiku put her pencil down and put her head in her hands. She took a few deep breaths and continued working despite the irritation.

The bell rang as she finished her work, and she jammed her papers into her binder. She rushed out and after quickly gathering her stuff for the rest of the day, scrambled to the lunch room.

Her friends were concerned. As far as they could tell, Kiku didn't want to talk or have any support.

All period she ignored them, and she delved into another world as she read. And in that world she remained throughout this period and the next and also eighth, for she had a slip that said she was unable to participate in gym, and for eigth, she always ignores her teacher. Kiku had the feeling that if she hadn't gone through such an experience, that her English teacher would've tried to get her to answer a question wrong.

Kiku left the classroom and quickly visited her locker before she turned and was facing Matt- I mean Tom.

Without a second glance, she began walking towards the exit, before he called, "Wait! Catlad- I mean Kiku!" She stopped for a moment; it had been a couple of years since she'd heard him say her real name.

As he caught up, she snapped, "What?"

"You want to go out with me?" he asked with a grin. "I'll make you popular," he persuaded.

It didn't work. "Aren't you dating Annabeth?"

Tom shrugged.

That made Kiku angry. Although the two girls weren't on the best of terms with one another, she felt mad that someone would hurt her. Besides when had Tom ever cared about her? She answered her own question: _Because I was kidnapped, nearly _violated, _managed to escape and put those responsible behind bars. _That was enough to light the fuse to the bomb.

"No," she replied icily. "I will not, nor ever. I'd rather be that catlady you always speak about than dating someone like _you_," she spat. He growled as she stalked away.

Fuming, she nearly missed it: a flash of eyes in the woods as they watched her. Kiku examined the woods as she received a strange feeling. It wasn't the one she had got when those creeps were stalking her, but instead the feeling she had gotten the previous Monday. Unconsciously, her feet carried her to the woods.

Her blue eyes scanned around as she went deeper. Finally letting out a sigh, Kiku turned to exit when she bumped into something. Or more like someone.

"Gohan!" she squealed as the blonde wrapped her arms around him. After he had scratched the back of his head embarrassedly, he responded with a hello.

Once her initial shock had died down, she unwrapped her arms and frowned. "I thought you moved."

Gohan didn't answer. Instead, conflicting emotions flashed behind his beautiful ebony eyes.

When she didn't get an answer, she pried. "Why? You had just moved here… then when I got back from, err," she hesitated before going on, "In school, everyone had said you moved."

Again, he didn't answer. Frustration was beginning to well up inside of her. As she opened her mouth yet again to speak, he interrupted. "You must come with me."

Kiku stared at him blankly. "Go with you…?" After the black haired boy nodded, she asked, "Why?"

"Because you have to," he responded gruffly as he wrapped his arms roughly around her waist from behind, red tinting his face.

"Hey! Let go of me!" The girl squirmed as memories of her kidnapping appeared in her head. But she was hardly able to move an inch.

Gohan whispered, "Hold on." He seemed to jump up into the air, but instead of falling, as he should have, he flew.

As Kiku looked from his arms below, she thought, _Oh crud._


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball Z. Yet.

Chapter 6: Secrets

The ground was racing by. Kiku hardly had any time to process what she was seeing. The terrified blonde had stopped her struggling, and instead she had grasped Gohan's sleeves and clang onto them for dear life.

Her eyes were closed, but that didn't stop her from hearing the wind rush by, and feeling the force of the wind as Gohan raced through it.

Gohan, who had been previously occupied by his thoughts, realized he could hear quick and terrified breathing. He stopped and looked at the girl who he had his arms wrapped around.

Kiku realized that her feet were floating above the ground. Her heart began beating loudly as she realized the only way she was still suspended in the air was the black haired boy who was behind her and holding her waist.

"You okay?" he asked worriedly.

Smartly, she decided it would be best if she didn't reply. A feeling in her gut was telling her that if she opened her mouth, she'd be sick. The fly had been quicker than comfortable.

She shook her head.

"Had I gone too fast?" he questioned. Another nod. "Oops," he said sheepishly as he removed a hand to rub the back of his head. But at the change, Kiku let out a terrified squeal, and she desperately clutched at his remaining arm. Realization came over his face. "You're afraid of heights." It wasn't a question, more of a statement, but she frantically nodded, hoping he'd secure her by putting his other arm back around her.

Having gotten the nonverbal message, Gohan did so. "Sorry," he apologized. But he did the unexpected; he threw her in the air.

A terrified scream escaped her lips as she heard explosions below. Gohan caught her, and now she was being held bridal style. As he raced away, Kiku took a peek over his shoulder and gasped as she saw an energy beam heading straight for them.

Before she even had time to warn Gohan, he had turned around and fired one of his own. The smoke was a good enough cover for him to escape.

Had Kiku been able to pick her head up from his shoulder, currently unable to due to the force of the wind pushing her head, she would've seen a troubled look cross his face.

Only when she sensed his speed dying down did she reopen her eyes. As she lifted her head, she collected her surroundings: There were trees everywhere, for miles, she assumed. But as Gohan descended, she noticed that they were entering a clearing.

In the clearing was a log cabin house, its inhabitants probably inside.

Gohan's feet touched the ground, and he gently placed the girl on the ground also. At first when she tried to stand, she fell and only after her body had recovered from the shock of the fly was she able to stand.

She took a few discombobulated steps before she stumbled into Gohan.

As he caught her in his arms, a loud voice cackled with laughter. "Look! Kakabrat truly wasn't lying about meeting a girl. _And_ she isn't too bad looking."

Straightening embarrassedly, Kiku saw the offender take a step out from the house. He was short and had black hair that defied gravity, and he was wearing a blue jumpsuit. He also wore a smirk on his face. Kiku stiffened as she examined him, though. Any Dragon Ball Z fan knows what Vegeta looks like.

Gohan also seemed embarrassed. But he was saved having to answer when a familiar voice came from behind Vegeta. "Oh lay off him, Father." The person stepped out and revealed a young man with lavender hair, wearing black, a purple jacket, a gold belt and a sword on his back.

Kiku gasped as she realized just who it was. "You," she whispered. Of course to her, it had two meanings.

The boy looked at her and frowned. Just as he went to speak, Gohan walked forward and informed grimly, "We were attacked on the way here."

The smirk that had been on Vegeta's face disappeared and was replaced by a scowl. "That's the second time this week."

Kiku frowned. "Second what?" she asked curiously asked.

Although Gohan gave her a glance, they otherwise ignored her. But being ignored was normal, so instead Kiku began walking around the clearing. She caught sight of a green creature floating in the shadow of a tree, meditating. Without a second glance she continued on. It was obviously only Piccolo, and she didn't wish to disturb him.

Besides, she kind of hoped she be able to meet Goku. Casting one glance back towards the talking men, Kiku entered the log cabin house. As she looked around, it became increasingly obvious that Trunks was definitely Bulma's son: There were strange electronics everywhere, not to mention a giant refrigerator.

Opening it, her mouth gaped open. The fridge was packed with food, and she had a feeling that they had a hard time obtaining enough money to buy all of this. That is _if_ they buy it. Closing it, she went back outside.

Piccolo had gotten up, and was currently sparring with Vegeta. Gohan and the man who must be Trunks were conversing. The spar gathered her attention as the two exchanged blows. What amazed her the most was their speed. They were hardly blurs to her blue eyes.

Gohan turned and looked at the female. He was surprised to find that instead of the fear and confusion he expected to cloud her face, there was amazement and awe. Approaching her, he said, "Those two are Vegeta and Piccolo. Vegeta is the, er, _human_ one, and Piccolo is the green one." To his surprise, she merely nodded as she continued watching the two. Frowning, but continuing, he added, "And that, over there, is Trunks." As she turned to see where Gohan was pointing, he waved and began walking over.

"Hello," he said kindly, putting out his hand to shake hers.

Taking it, Kiku smiled and said, "Hi." As she put her hand back down to her side, she added, "Thanks for saving me."

Surprise flickered across his face. "What do you mean?" he finally asked.

Mind whirling for an excuse, she stated, "I know that it was you who saved me from those guys." When he nor Gohan said anything, she quickly added, "Not everyone wears a sword on their back."

While they had been speaking, Piccolo and Vegeta had finished their match and the two warriors walked over to meet Kiku.

"So, girl. You're smarter than you look," remarked Vegeta.

Kiku turned to face him. Ignoring his first comment, she greeted them with a hello.

"So, Gohan," Piccolo began. "This is the one you said that Layarca had been watching." Gohan nodded.

Confused, Kiku questioned, "Who's Layarca?"

Ignoring her, Vegeta stepped into the conversation and scoffed, "Her? What on earth does she have that could interest him?"

No one answered and Gohan's face turned a bit red, as if he knew what she had. Trunks put a supportive hand on his shoulder and answered the question. "Gohan."

Still utterly confused, Kiku asked, louder this time, "Who's Layarca?"

Piccolo answered. "He's a threat that has been targeting us for about a month now."

"But he hasn't been able to beat us," Vegeta added with his usual smirk.

Frowning, Kiku asked, "So why is he still a threat if you've been able to beat him for a month now?"

This time Gohan answered. "Because he is great at getaways."

As Kiku took some time to process what they said, Trunks added, "Besides, after he realized he couldn't beat us, he began looking for alternative ways to defeat us. Hence, why Gohan had to bring you here."

Shocked Kiku thought, _Me? I'm the alternative way to defeat the Saiyans and the Namekian?_

Shifting her backpack to the other shoulder, Kiku looked around at her company: Gohan was avoiding eye contact; Trunks was watching her reaction; Vegeta had his arms crossed and was looking in another direction in disinterest; and Piccolo was leaning against a nearby tree, his face hidden in the shadows.

"Huh," she finally replied. "So you brought me here because you don't want Layarca using me to his advantage."

Vegeta snorted. "I still don't see why we couldn't just leave you be. Odds are you'll prove of no use to him because Gohan doesn't get emotionally involved since he's part Saiyan."

Gohan flinched and Trunks gave Vegeta a glare. "Father, don't talk about that in front of her," he warned.

"Pfft. I bet she's still wondering what the heck I meant by that."

Kiku rolled her eyes. So much for them keeping a secret from her. Then she smirked. She figured it'd be fun to bust Vegeta's horns. Besides, when will she ever get a chance like this again? "I know what a Saiyan is," she casually commented. All eyes turned to her.

"Really then," Vegeta scoffed. "Then would you mind telling us what a Saiyan is?"

"My pleasure. You see, Saiyans overcame the Tuffles on Planet Plant and renamed it Vegeta. Then Frieza hired them and they began working under his rule. Then after Bardock learned of Frieza's plan to blow up a potential threat, he lead an unsuccessful revolt and died along with his planet and most of his race. Only a few Saiyans remained, including you, Turles, Broly and his father, Nappa, Raditz and Kakarot, also known as Goku." At this point everyone's eyes were wide open in shock. Smiling politely, she continued, "Saiyans are proud and battle hungry beings. Most of them, that is. Fighting comes naturally for them and is in their blood. On the full moon, they turn into giant apes called Oozaru, but only if they have a tail." She paused. "Must I go on?"

Vegeta was fuming. Clearly not her best idea. Oh well. She'll die having met some of her favorite anime characters. "How?" he growled. "How do you know of us?"

Shrugging, Kiku answered, "It's common knowledge to a group of people. I'm one of them." She simply loved practically telling them she was a Dragon Ball Z fan and them not realizing it.

Piccolo stepped from the shadows. "I don't suppose that you have knowledge about Namekians, do you?"

"Not much. All I really remember is that your people suffered from a drought and that your people don't eat. Only drink water."

As Piccolo nodded, a cold November breeze blew by causing Kiku to shiver.

Sighing, Gohan murmured, "We should probably get inside."

The five of them entered the log cabin house. It wasn't much warmer, but it was better from outside. Trunks entered the kitchen to cook dinner while Piccolo leaned against the wall with his eyes closed. Vegeta, it would seem, had calmed down, although he shot the girl a suspicious glare.

Meanwhile, Gohan had taken a seat at the table. Kiku also sat. She kept her eyes down while an awkward silence settled. It wasn't until Trunks came back out a few minutes later that the silence ceased. Instead, the room was filled with the sound of three Saiyans eating.

"Seems like I forgot to mention that Saiyans have bottomless stomachs," she muttered under her breath. Taking only a few bites of chicken, the female stood and brought her plate to the sink to be cleaned. After she had finished, she reentered the dining room to find a tower of plates by each of the Saiyans, although Vegeta had the most.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, they were finished. "I don't envy whoever has to clean those up," she commented. They all stood. Gohan smiled and embarrassedly rubbed the back of his head while Trunks took his stack to the kitchen. Gohan followed suit. But Vegeta had different plans. The short Saiyan walked out of the house, probably to train. Stealing a glance outside as Vegeta left, she was surprised to see that the sky was dark. Suddenly she wondered how worried her family was.

When a hand touched her shoulder, Kiku jumped. "Sorry," Gohan apologized. Absently nodding, the earthling was then told that she would be staying here until Layarca was taken care of.

"And how long will that be?" she questioned, fearing the answer.

"I don't know."

Trunks went down a nearby hallway and entered a room, closing it quietly. Piccolo went to the door but paused before exiting. "Although I'll be out there watching, you know how sneaky Layarca can be. Keep close to her."

After Gohan nodded, he began walking down the hallway. Kiku noticed that there were only four rooms: Trunks' room; Vegeta's room; Gohan's room; and the bathroom.

He led her into his room. It was very bland and simple: it had a bed, a bedside table and a dresser.

Kiku froze and turned pale as she realized what that meant. Gohan seemed to also realize it, because he turned red.

"Don't worry," he assured her. "I'll sleep on the floor." He then proceeded to lay on the floor next to the bed.

Taking her backpack off and placing it on the floor, she quietly thanked him and slid into his bed. But she felt bad that he was laying on the floor with nothing so she took one of his two pillows and whispered, "Here, Gohan." Taking the pillow from her grasp, he thanked her quietly.

Bringing her legs up close to her body under the blanket, she tried her best to ignore the cold while her mind drifted

*Wow. It's been way too long. Homework and lack of sleep is to blame. But I finally have no homework and I just woke up from a nap so I'm all good. Typing about Vegeta was fun although I need to work on Trunks and Piccolo's characters. Comment and I'll see ya soon!


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